Jaguar F-Type British Design Edition

Celebrating the very British feeling of the Jaguar F-Type, Jaguar have released the all-new 'F-Type British Design Edition'; where could be better to explore such a car than the bustling streets of London at midnight?​

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If there’s one thing about the Jaguar F-Type that sets it apart from its competitors, it has to be the distinct feeling that it is very British. Ever since it was unveiled, it has always had a certain presence about it, as if personified it would be a true traditional English gentleman – charming, polite and sufficiently bold. For that reason, it seemed only right that a photoshoot with a car that celebrates this very British feeling, Jaguar's F-Type British Design Edition, should take place in the capital.

There’s a certain special feeling about city photoshoots in the dead of night – especially when you have no roof. It’s a hard feeling to describe but the mixture of lights, ever busy streets and stunning skylines, just creates an atmosphere that’s highly intoxicating; a feeling that was certainly echoed by this fantastic Jaguar.

With the car positioned outside our first photo location - the iconic Gherkin - we got our first opportunity to take in just how beautiful the F-Type British Design Edition really is. It retains the same exterior that has won over the hearts of many but somehow manages to add something extra that is hard to pinpoint. This particular car wore ‘Ultra Blue’ paint, the sport design pack and special 20-inch wheels finished in Satin Dark Grey, attracting no end of attention whilst still remaining delightfully understated - much like 007, it oozes presence in a way that can only be described as charm.

It is during the process of taking photos that you start to notice all of the subtle details that set this exclusive F-Type apart from the other models that are available. Whilst the British Design Edition can only be ordered in Red, White, Blue or Black, all share the same unique badges and styling tweaks across the exterior; they may only be little changes but the devil is most certainly in the details.

Unfortunately, location one came to a rather sudden end (courtesy of a large and rowdy stag weekend crowd that we spotted on the horizon) and location two was still far too busy for any form of shoot (despite it being around 1:30am), that led us to decide that we should to take a drive over to location number three - Canary Wharf. The relatively lengthy journey gave us chance to get to know how the F-Type British Design Edition feels to drive. Based on the Jaguar F-Type V6 S, the British Design Edition uses Jaguar’s 3.0-litre supercharged V6 to feed all-four wheels with 335bhp and subsequently takes this very special F-Type from 0-60mph in around 5 seconds.

Whilst you never get to take advantage of this power when navigating the busy streets of London, you can still very much enjoy the F-Type thanks to the incredible symphony that it creates at all speeds; the noise that was produced by the exhaust added no end of character to the F-Type and was most definitely a highlight of the entire photoshoot. With the sports exhaust turned on, the F-Type pops and bangs gloriously on every gear change and release of the throttle almost anywhere in the rev range. With the sports exhaust turned off, everything becomes somewhat more civilised; the British Design Edition still creating a great noise but is more restrained and the volume reduced fairly significantly.

By now it was 2am but the location that we eventually found (thanks to some creative use of Google and the Jaguar’s sat nav) certainly made us forget the time, the biting cold and the interesting smell radiating from the Thames; this is because, sat majestically across the river was the stunning skyline of Canary Wharf – various lights still on as the financial hub of the city continued to work through the night.

Taking a moment to soak the view in, we start to put together a plan for the shots that we want to get here – contrary to what you may think, every photo that you see on this page is actually multiple pictures layered together by our very talented photographer. It’s a painstaking process that can be seen in the video to the right and means that each shot takes not only a surprising amount of time but also careful planning before the camera is even picked up.

With the shoot consisting of multiple different angles, it took about an hour to get everything that we wanted with the beautiful backdrop of Canary Wharf. Some amazing photos in the bag, we’re back in the car heading back to location number two – giving us time to further appreciate the interior of this gorgeous F-Type.

The cabin is a very nice place to be; premium leather and contrasting stitching on fantastic sports seats help to add a balanced feeling of both luxury and performance whilst exclusive ‘S’ badges combined with the Union Jack reinforce the sense of Britishness and individuality. Infotainment comes in the form of Jaguar’s InControl Touch Plus system and provides occupants with access to features such as media, the sat-nav and all the vehicle information that you could ever need.

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